1. Subtitle
Introduction to the
NCLB Flexibility Waiver
Office of School Improvement and Turnaround
Indiana Department of Education
February 2012
2. Agenda
• Introduction of Indiana’s Flexibility Waiver
• Priority Schools and Focus Schools
– Rigor Tiers
– Turnaround Principles
– Mass Insight’s Framework for High-Performing, High-
Poverty Schools
• Funding
• Resources
• Training
3. What is the Flexibility Waiver?
•Indiana submitted waiver in November with 10 other states
•Secretary Duncan approved Indiana’s waiver in early February
•One accountability system instead of two (AYP/PL 221)
•More flexibility with more accountability
•Will be implemented in the 2012-2013 school year
4. Flexibility Waiver Common Terms
•OSIT: Office of School Improvement andTurnaround
•Priority School: Schools receiving an F or a D/F for two
or more consecutive years
•Focus School: Schools receiving a D (first-year)
•Turnaround Principles: Federally-created best practices
•Mass Insight’s Framework for High-Performing, High-
Poverty Schools: Rubric used for Technical Assistance
Teams (TAT)
•RigorTiers: Guide the implementation of intervention
5. How will the Waiver Affect Schools?
•No longer using the Differentiated Accountability model
•No index rating
•Locally driven options for Choice and SES
•No mandatory LEA improvement set asides
•No mandatory NCLB School Improvement Plan
6. Think About…….
•Using the available funds from formally required set asides
to fund school improvement interventions
•Instructional coaches
•Formative assessments
•Specialists
•Professional development
•Student- and school-level data should guide your
intervention selection
7. Think About……
•LEA Improvement
•Cannot fund non-Title I schools in 2012-2013
•Staff funded through set-asides
•SES Staff
•Choice Staff
•LEA Improvement Staff
8. Mass Insight’s Framework for
High-Quality, High-Poverty Schools
Turnaround Principles
RigorTiers
Three Parameters of School
Improvement Intervention Selection
9. Mass Insight
•Turnaround Challenge-Secretary Duncan refers to
as the “Bible” of school turnaround
•Mass Insight continues to lead the field in providing
cutting-edge materials on the school turnaround
•Technical Assistance Teams for PL 221 were formed
around Mass Insight’s “Readiness” Model
•Readiness toTeach, Readiness to Learn and
Readiness to Act
10. OSIT 2.0 – Priority & Focus Schools
• Consistent Expectations
– Aligned to all turnaround principles
– Selected based on school- and student-level
data
– Interventions fall within parameters of Mass
Insight readiness framework for high-quality,
high-poverty schools
11. Turnaround Principles (USDE)
• Provide strong leadership
• Ensure that teachers are effective and able to improve instruction
• Provide high quality, job-embedded professional development
• Implement strategies to recruit, place and retain staff (Financial
incentives, promotion, career growth, and flexible work conditions)
• Redesign the school day, week, or year
• Strengthen the school’s instructional program
• Use data to inform instruction
• Establish a school environment that improves safety and discipline and
address other non-academic factors
• Engage families and community
12. Rigor Tiers
• Tier 1 = Overall
– Tier 1 provides culturally responsive research-based
instruction or practices in the general education setting.
– Example: Acuity
• Tier 2 = What area(s)?
– Tier II provides Tier I instruction plus intensive technical
assistance to support the general education setting.
– Example: Tying Acuity data to the 8-step process to inform
instruction
• Tier 3 = For whom?
– Tier III provides Tier I instruction plus culturally responsive
supports for underperforming subgroups
– Example: Tying Acuity data to the 8-step process to inform
remediation and enrichment groups
13. Examples of Interventions
Readiness toTeach Readiness to Learn Readiness to Act
•Revise schedule to
include PLC
•Formative assessment
training
•Increase core content
or remediation time
•School culture specialist
•EL specialist
•Family Liaison
•Attendance Officer
•Community Liaison
•Replace principal with
ineffective track record
and recruit new
principal with an
effective track record
•Performance incentives
tied to high-need areas
of instruction and/or
student performance
*Guidance document coming soon for resources aligned to each Readiness
14. Priority Schools
• Year 1
– At least 3 interventions, one from each of the
readiness domains
– At least Tier 2 rigor
• Year 2
– Revise interventions and implementation plans based
on year 1 data
– At least 1 intervention
• Years 3 and 4
– Revise interventions and implement all turnaround
principles
– TAT visit in Year 4
15. Priority Schools
• Year 5
– Based on findings from TAT report, IDOE will
recommend intervention(s) and implementation plans
– LEA must agree to these recommendations in order to
receive 1003a funding
– TAT follow-up visit
• Year 6
– State intervention
16. Focus Schools
• Same as priority schools with two
exceptions:
– School Quality Review visit in year 5
– LEA must adopt OSIT recommendations for
interventions and implementation during year 6
17. Priority & Focus Schools
• Intervention Selection
– Root Cause Analysis
– Data-Driven Intervention Selection
– Development of Logic Model to Guide
Implementation
• Intervention Implementation
– Monitoring
18. Root Cause Analysis
• Objective: Ensure LEAs have identified
critical areas for improvement prior to
selecting school improvement interventions
19. Data-Driven Intervention Selection
• Objective: Ensure selected school
improvement interventions are
– aligned to all turnaround principles
– anchored in the Mass Insight framework
– based on an analysis of multiple school- and
student-level data sources
20. Intervention Implementation Logic Model
• Objective: Ensure implementation plans
include:
– lagging and leading indicators of success
– benchmarks and goals
– progress monitoring tools and protocol
21. DA Model vs. Flexibility Waiver
Comprehensive Improvement Priority School
•ChoiceTransportation for all
students
•Provide SES
•NCLB School Improvement
Plan
•Instructional Coach
•Acuity/Wireless Gen
•At least 3 interventions,
one from each of the
readiness domains
-At leastTier 2 rigor
Year I
22. DA Model vs. Flexibility Waiver
Focused Improvement Focus School
•ChoiceTransportation for all
students
•Provide SES
•NCLB School Improvement
Plan
•At least 3 interventions,
one from each of the
readiness domains
-At leastTier 2 rigor
Year I
23. Monitoring
•Monitoring will be conducted by OSIT specialists and
will be needs-based
•Priority schools, at least 2x a year
•Focus schools, at least 1x a year
•AdaptTechnical Assistance Teams (TAT) protocols
•Between site visit desktop monitoring
•Qualitative and quantitative reports that track ongoing
progress and areas for improvement
24. District Funding Examples
Required Set
Aside
Amount from
2011-2012Title I
Application
Choice and SES $1,167,280.27
LEA Improvement $583,640.10
10% School
Improvement in
Schools Budgets
(for all schools in
improvement
$121,754.98
10% School
Improvement in
Schools Budgets
(for all schools in
improvement)
$121, 754.98
Priority SchoolsYear
1
At least 3
interventions, one
from each of the
readiness domains
Focus SchoolsYear 1 At least 3
interventions, one
from each of the
readiness domains
DA Model Funding Requirements Flexibility Funding Requirements
25. Funding Interventions
• Use school 10% Professional Development
set aside to fund interventions for Priority
and Focus schools
• Same amount of School Improvement
Funding (1003a) but now more schools
identified for interventions
• Additional information on funding will be
coming soon
27. Trainings Available to the Field
• March 13
– Accountability Definitions Overview: Explanations
of Priority, Focus, Focus-Targeted and Rewards Schools
• March 27
– Intervention Criteria WebEx: Mass Insight,
Turnaround Principles, Rigor Tiers and Funding
• April 10
– Intervention Selection WebEx: Root Cause Analysis,
Data–Driven Intervention Selection, Logic Model to Guide
Implementation
• April 24
– Intervention Monitoring WebEx: Protocols and
Documentation Requirements
28. Future Training
• More trainings on application writing, resource
sharing, and school improvement interventions
coming soon
• Join Learning Connection Community “School
Improvement”
• FAQ will be posted and updated weekly
• All WebEx’s are recorded and posted in the
Learning Connection Community
